Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

EARLY LIFE

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in 1961 in Abéché, Chad. He discovered cinema at around age eight and has recalled the lasting impression of an Indian film’s close-up of a smiling woman. Civil war forced him to flee Chad around 1980 (severely wounded, he first crossed into neighbouring Cameroon) and he settled in France in 1982. He studied film at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in Paris, then journalism at the IUT de Bordeaux, working for several years as a journalist for regional newspapers and local radio before returning fully to filmmaking.

CAREER

Haroun began with short films, including Tan Koul (1991) and the breakthrough Maral Tanié (1994), which addressed forced marriage. His first feature, the hybrid docudrama Bye Bye Africa (1999), which he also wrote and appeared in, is considered the first feature film by a Chadian director; it won the Best First Film award at the Venice Film Festival. Subsequent features established him internationally: Abouna (Our Father, 2002; Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, Best Cinematography at FESPACO); Daratt (Dry Season, 2006; Grand Special Jury Prize at Venice); A Screaming Man (Un homme qui crie, 2010; Jury Prize at Cannes—the first time a Chadian film competed in the main selection—and the Robert Bresson Prize at Venice); Grigris (2013; Competition at Cannes); the documentary Hissein Habré, a Chadian Tragedy (2016; Special Screening at Cannes); A Season in France (2017); and Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (2021; Competition at Cannes). His more recent work includes Soumsoum, The Night of the Stars (2026), which premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival and received the FIPRESCI Prize. He has served on major festival juries, including the main competition at Cannes in 2011 and the Cinéfondation/short-film section in 2014. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has devoted a retrospective to his work.

PERSONAL LIFE

Haroun has lived in France since the early 1980s. He is married and has three children. He briefly held a government post as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Crafts in Chad. His work frequently returns to themes of exile, family, war, and moral conflict rooted in Chadian experience.

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary African cinema. His films, often set and shot in Chad, combine austere visual style with intimate human stories that explore the aftermath of conflict, the weight of family duty, exile, and ethical dilemmas. He continues to write and direct while maintaining strong ties to both Chadian and French cinematic institutions.